Beverage cupholder assemblies are common in many vehicles. Many differing types of such beverage cupholders can be mounted in various locations of the vehicle. Such cupholders are typically moveable between a stowed or concealed position within a housing and an extended or use position extending from the housing to receive and support beverage containers.
The manner in which cupholders are stored and moveable are extensive. Representative of such is U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,775 issued Mar. 13, 1990 in the name of Lorence et al. The patent discloses a container holder which includes a frame slidable within a housing and moveable between a vertical storage position and a horizontal operational position. The frame is retained within the housing in a vertical position and as the frame moves to its operational position, it is guided through a slot and pivots to the horizontal operational position. The pair of cupholders are positioned longitudinally next to one another, and move in the same direction.
Another cupholder design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,633 issued May 28, 1991 in the name of Toth et al, which discloses container holders stored in a vertical facing position. As the container holders are pulled outwardly from their stored position, they are guided to a horizontal use position through guide pins and transverse guide slots in the housing.
The aforementioned cupholder assemblies require manual movement to move the cupholders to the use position. U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,932 issued Aug. 1, 1989 in the name of Komeya et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,805 issued Dec. 27, 1994 in the name of Sudak et al having common assignee herewith, disclose cupholder assemblies which use a motor to move the cupholders between the stored and used positions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,805 further discloses electronic sensors that detect the presence of container in the fixed cupholder member and prevents movement of the tray via the motor driven actuator when a cup is detected.
The prior art patents do not disclose a motor driven cupholder assembly moveable into and out of a recess of a housing which includes collapsible cupholders which can only pass through the recess when in the collapsed position, nor a sensor for preventing movement of the tray assembly if the cupholders members are not in the collapsed position.